DRUM MACHIHE
PATTERNS
>ST<
*
2 6 0
PATTERNS
By RENE-PIERRE BARDET
Contents
Preface.2
Explanations .2
Abbreviations .2
Grid Notation.3
Musical Notation.4
How To Use This Book.5
Using The Patterns.6
Rhythm And Break Patterns
9
6
3
6
3
12
15
6
2
2
12
12
15
12
6
6
AFRO-CUBAN + 6 BREAK.
BLUES + 3 BREAK.
BOOGIE + 3 BREAK.
BOSSA NOVA + 3 BREAK .
CHA CHA + 3 BREAK.
DISCO + 9 BREAK.
FUNK + 15 BREAK .
JAZZ + 3 BREAK .
MARCH + 1 TANGO + 3 BREAK.
PASO DOBLE + 1 CHARLESTON + 3 BREAK
POP + 6 BREAK.
REGGAE 4- 9 BREAK.
ROCK + 12 BREAK.
RHYTHM AND BLUES + 6 BREAK.
SAMBA + 3 BREAK.
SHUFFLE + 3 BREAK.
3 BREAK .
12 SLOW
6 BREAK
SWING + 3 BREAK
TWIST + 3 BREAK
WALTZ 4 3 BREAK
ENDING
i-
PSM Hal*Leonard*
L- ^ CORPORATION
7777 W. Bluemouno Rd. P.O.Box 13819 Milwaukee, Wi 53213
© 1987 by PAUL BEUSCHER - Paris 27 boulevard Beaumarchais - 75004 - PARIS
For all works contained herein:
Unauthorized copying, arranging, adapting, recording or public performance is an infringement of copyright.
Infringers are liable under the law.
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Preface
This book is a supplement to the first volume of DRUM MACHINE PATTERNS. In
it you’ll find over 260 rhythm patterns and breaks, or fills. These are original
patterns that can be programmed easily on any drum machine.
This book, like its predecessor, contains the rhythms most often used in con¬
temporary music.
The easiest way to use the patterns in these two volumes is to store them in
groups. For example, program all the Rock patterns and breaks into your
drum machine, and then save them using the cassette or MIDI interface pro¬
vided for external storage. Do this for each rhythm (Rock, Pop, Funk, etc.).
This requires a certain investment of time at the start but will come in handy
later. Thus, when you have to work on a Funk piece, for example, you can
load all of the appropriate rhythms and breaks into your drum machine at
one time. This gives you a considerable range of patterns ready to use
immediately.
Feel free to modify the patterns in this book to suit your taste, inspiration, or
whim. They constitute a solid and efficient base of current rhythms from
which you can work.
Explanations
The rhythms are listed in alphabetical order, with corresponding breaks.
As in the first volume, patterns are presented both in musical notation and
in “step time" grids. To help you program the patterns easily, numbers ap¬
pear above the grids to show the subdivisions of the measure.
Some drum machines are capable of several different levels of accents. The
use of these different levels, if your machine possesses them, is left to your
discretion.
Tempos are left up to you.
One recent innovation in drum machines that makes its appearance in this
book is the “flam.” A flam is a note that is struck just before the principal
beat. A flam is indicated by a grace note in the musical notation, and by an
“F” preceding the note to be played in the grid.
You’ll find a blank pattern sheet at the end of the book, which you can pho¬
tocopy and use in notating patterns of your own.
Abbreviations
Following are the abbreviations for the various elements that constitute the
“drum set” found in drum machines.
AC: Accent
CH: Closed Hi-Hat
BD: Bass Drum
OH: Open Hi-Hat
SD: Snare Drum
CY: Cymbal
LT: Low Tom
RS: Rim Shot
MT: Medium Tom
CPS: Claps
HT: High Tom
CB: Cowbell
TAM: Tambourine
p
Grid Notation
The grid below is typical of those found in this book.
• Each grid represents a one-measure drum pattern.
• Each row of boxes in the grid represents one of the instruments in the
drum set. An arrow is placed next to each instrument that is used in
that particular pattern. Thus, you can ignore the lines without arrows.
• Each box in a row represents a unit of time. This unit is a sixteenth
note («fy or a sixteenth rest (7), depending on whether the box is
black (note) or white (rest).
Most patterns a^e in 4/4 time, as the example is. This means there are four
quarter notes (J) in a measure. The sixteenth-note unit used by drum ma¬
chines allows each beat to be broken into four subdivisions. In simple
mathematics:
• A quarter note is a quarter of a measure.
J
J
J
J
= 1 measure
• A sixteenth note is a quarter of a quarter note, or a sixteenth of a
measure.
JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ
= 1 measure
A rhythm pattern in 4/4 time, such as that in the example, will therefore
have 16 boxes in each row.
Because the sounds in a drum machine have a fixed duration (you can’t
play a “long note” on a snare drum; all you can do is hit it), the grids do
not show the length of a drum sound. Rather, they show only the places
where each drum is “hit.”
Musical Notation
The literal translation of the grid in the example into musical notation would
be as follows:
literal
V
M-
^ V
A? V
Since this involves many short rests, however, common practice takes liberties
with the notation, substituting longer note values for greater clarity:
common
notation
J 1 J 7
—t-r ff=M
3
A
The following key shows how each element of the drum set is notated on the
musical staff.
Claps (CPS)
Snare Drum (SD)
Cymbal (CY) or
Closed Hi-Hat (CH)
Medium Tom (MT) or
High Tom (HT)
Ride Cymbal or Crash Cymbal,
depending on the context.
r
Open Hi-Hat (OH)
Low Tom (LT)
Cowbell (CB)
Closed Hi-Hat
(CH. This Is an alternative to the
Closed Hi-Hat notation above,
used to avoid confusion when the
Cymbal is also being used. In
playing an actual drum set, this
notation Indicates pressing the
Hl-Hat pedal.)
Bass Drum (BD)
Rim Shot (RS)
Accent (AC)
Tambourine (TAM)
r
4
How To Use This Book
1. Carefully read the user’s manual for your drum machine in order to learn how to operate
it in the WRITE (program rhythms) and the PLAY (listen to programmed rhythms) modes.
2. If you’ve chosen to program a pattern that is 16 units long (4/4 time; e.g., Rock or Pop), it
is shown here by a grid that is 16 boxes across. If, on the other hand, you have chosen to
program a 12-unit pattern(12/8 time, or 4/4 time with triplets; e.g., Blues or Shuffle), it is
shown here by a grid that is 12 boxes across, and each box represents an eighth note
rather than a sixteenth note. Select the appropriate pattern length on your drum machine.
3. Activate the WRITE mode.
Using the example:
a) Program AC (Accent):
4 silences - 1 note - 7 silences - 1 note - 3 silences
(4+1 + 7 + 1 + 3=16)
b) Program CH (Closed High-Hat):
1 note - 3 silences - 1 note - 3 silences - 1 note - 3 silences - 1 note - 3 silences
(1 + 3 + 1 + 3 + 1 + 3 + 1+ 3 = 16)
c) Program SD (Snare Drum):
1
3
5
7
9
11
13
15
4 silences - 1 note - 7 silences - 1 note - 3 silences
(4+1 + 7 + 1 + 3 = 16)
d) Program BD (Bass Drum):
1 note - 5 silences - 1 note - 1 silence - 1 note - 7 silences
(1 + 5+1 + 1 + 1 + 7 = 16)
4. Switch to PLAY mode and listen to the rhythm.
5. Adjust the tempo to your taste.
5
Using The Patterns
You’ve just programmed a one-measure rhythm pattern. But one pattern play¬
ing continuously would quickly become boring. So drum machines have
what is called “song mode,” or “chain mode,” which allows you to string sev¬
eral patterns together to form a more interesting whole.
To use song mode, you would first program a minimum of two complementa¬
ry patterns, and perhaps a break. In a typical song, the main patterns alter¬
nate, and the break occurs in the last measure of the phrase (phrases usually
are 8 or 16 measures long). For example:
1 + 2 + 1+ 2 + 1 + 2+1 + Break
or 1 + 1 + 2 + 2+1 + 1 + 24- Break
The cymbal parts, which have been indicated for Closed Hi-Hat (CH), you may
wish to program for the Cymbal (sometimes called “Ride Cymbal”- CY) You
may also wish to add Claps (CPS) or High Tom (HT) to underscore accents,' and
so on, keeping in mind, obviously, the capabilities of your machine.
This book is absolutely not a substitute for your imagination. It is designed to
help you in putting basic rhythms into place, but it’s up to you to personalize
them. An infinite variety of rhythmic combinations lies at your disposal.
6
10
11
Blues; “|
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Marchs 1
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43
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46
47
P O P; 7
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POP: 9
50
51
52
53
H*
54
I
55
V
56
57
58
60
61
Rock: 10
Rock
63
64
65
66
A C
68
70
72
Ill
74
76
77
Shuffle; 4
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80
81
82
83
84
85
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87
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89
90
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